An explosion occurred Sunday night in a residential building on Bnei Brak’s Ba’al Hatanya Street. This is the second explosive device to detonate in Bnei Brak in the past month.
Police sappers who were called to a residential building on Beit Hatanya Street in Bnei Brak found that the explosion heard in the building was as a result of an improvised explosive device that exploded in the stairwell.
There were no casualties, but slight damage was caused to the structure.
Read more at Arutz Sheva.

Anthony Scaramucci says that the political left should view the president’s loyal supporters as members of a cult that need to be deprogrammed.
During an Fox News interview Sunday with Howard Kurtz, the one-time White House director of communications warned, “We recognize that the president is a clear and present danger to the American society—the American culture,”
“There are many people inside the White House and in the Cabinet. I would ask the left to… create an off-ramp for those people,” he added. “Because when you’re trying to deprogram people from a cult, one of the first things you have to do is allow them to change their mind.”
Read more at NEWSWEEK.

President Trump said on Sunday he would likely wait until after Israel’s Sept. 17 elections to release a peace plan for the region that was designed by White House senior adviser Jared Kushner.
Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, is the main architect of a proposed $50 billion economic development plan for the Palestinians, Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon that is designed to create peace in the region.
Read more at REUTERS.

All are asked to daven for the well-being of Avrohom Shlomo ben Rochel Leah, who was injured upon falling off a cliff while in a hiking excursion with his family at Minnewaska State Park in the Catskills.
Hatzolah treated the victim at the scene and transported him to the hospital, where he is in critical condition.

7 p.m. ET: All are asked to daven for the well-being of R’ Dovid Traube, a father of seven from Monsey, NY who has gone missing after attempting to rescue his son at Greenwood Lake, NJ.
The family was boating when one of the children fell into the water and the father went after the child to rescue him.
The child was brought to land, as was the rest of the family, but the father went missing.
Hatzolah and Chaveirim have joined police and fire rescue units in conducting the search.
All are asked to daven for R’ Dovid Zalman ben Bina.
Update: The search has been suspended until midnight due to inclement weather.

The Hamas terror group has sent a message to Israel warning of the danger in retaliating for the rocket attacks.
According to the London-based Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, Hamas’ message, sent through third parties, included the following threat: “Either the commitment to relieve the siege on Gaza will be implemented, or there will be an escalation.”
According to the report, Hamas is threatening to escalate the violent weekly border riots it calls the “March of Return” and to work together with other organizations to actively fight the Israeli “attacks.”
The report also said that continued pressure on Gaza would cause the expansion of “independent” terror attacks and a widescale military conflict.
Read more at Arutz Sheva.

President Donald Trump wrote a check to donate his second quarter 2019 salary to the office of the Surgeon General to fund an upcoming public health advisory, the White House told USA TODAY.
It’s his third salary donation to the Department of Health and Human Services.
“The President recognizes the important mission of the Surgeon General to protect and improve the health of all Americans, including helping to tackle the opioid epidemic and raise awareness of the dangers of e-cigarette usage among teenagers and children,” the White House said in a statement.
The $100,000 will be used to fund an upcoming public health advisory, but officials declined to say the subject.
Read more at USA TODAY.

The grandmother of Rep. Rashida Tlaib did not mince words about President Trump in a recent interview after he roped her into a heated back and forth with her granddaughter following the Israeli government’s decision to bar her from entering the territory.
“Trump tells me I should be happy Rashida is not coming. May God ruin him,” Muftia Tlaib said in an interview with Reuters released on Saturday morning.
Her comments arrive in response to a tweet Trump shared on Friday, in which the president wrote that Tlaib’s grandmother was the “only real winner” after the congresswoman said she wouldn’t visit her grandmother in the West Bank, citing the controversial move by the Israeli government.
“She doesn’t have to see her now!” Trump...

On August 16, 2019, Miriam Smelkinson (nee Wachter); devoted wife of the late Alvin Paul Smelkinson; loving mother of the late Rina (Howard) Janet, Ira (Lisa) Smelkinson and Jeffrey (Deborah) Smelkinson; dear sister of the late Albert (Irene) Wachter, late Pearl (Bernard) Berelowitz, late Dora (Jack) Rabovsky, late Goldie (Morris) Beber and the late Louis (Jeanne) Wachter; loving sister-in-law of the late Richard (Barbara) Smelkinson; loving Bubbie of Andrew (Anna) Janet and the late Adam (Corinne) Janet, Arielle, Emma, Izzy, Aliya, Hannah and Rebecca Smelkinson; loving great-Bubbie of Ricki and Aaron Janet; devoted daughter of the late Rebecca and Samuel Wachter; cherished daughter-in-law of the late Betty and Ben Smelkinson; beloved aunt and great-aunt to many.
Levaya will take pl...

San Diego - A gun-rights group sued Thursday to block California from enforcing its assault weapons ban, contending it violates the Second Amendment right to bear arms.
The lawsuit was the latest among gun advocacy and lobbying groups to challenge California’s firearms laws, which are among the strictest in the country, and comes after a recent series of deadly mass shootings nationwide involving military-style rifles.
The lawsuit was filed in the same San Diego federal court district where a judge in April tossed out a nearly two-decade-old California ban on sales and purchases of ammunition magazines holding more than 10 bullets.
The new lawsuit says that decision by U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez undercuts California’s ban on certain weapons defined as “ass...

North Carolina - A camp van overturned in North Carolina at approximately 6:43 PM, Thursday evening, leaving one boy in critical condition, and 16 others injured.
The boys from “Hamachane Richmond” were driving in Northampton County on their way back from a trip when the rollover occured.
17 boys were in the vehicle. Of the total injuries, 11 were listed as non-urgent, five were urgent and one was critical.
Firefighters removed two rows of rear seats using hydraulic rescue cutters and reciprocating saws, to free the boys from the vehicle. They were then transferred to Halifax Regional Medical Center of Roanoke Rapids and Southern Virginia Regional Medical Center of Emporia for treatment.
Please say Tehillim for Eliyahu Avraham Ben Keren.

New York - Stocks rose broadly in morning trading on Wall Street Friday as investors look to end a turbulent week on a positive note.
The S&P 500 rose 1.5% as of 11 a.m. Eastern time and the Dow Jones Industrial Average also gained ground. But both indexes are still headed for a third straight weekly decline after steep losses earlier in the week, including an 800 point drop in the Dow.
Technology stocks led the market higher in a sign that investors regained some appetite for riskier holdings. Microsoft rose 1.8% and Apple rose 2.6%. Nvidia surged 8.8% on solid earnings.
Health care and industrial stocks also gained ground. Investors brushed off a weak forecast from agricultural equipment maker Deere, which gained 4.1%.
Utilities, which have been one of the safer haven...

San Francisco - Hundreds of Google employees are calling on the company to pledge it won’t work with U.S. Customs and Border Protection or Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It’s the latest in a year full of political and social pushback from the tech giant’s workforce.
A group of employees called Googlers for Human Rights posted a public petition urging the company not to bid on a cloud computing contract for CBP, the federal agency that oversees law enforcement for the country’s borders. Bids for the contract were due Aug. 1. It is not clear if Google expressed interest. The company did not return a request for comment.
More than 700 Google employees had signed the petition by Tuesday afternoon. Citing a “system of abuse” and “mal...

Jerusalem - A United Nations committee questioned Palestinian representatives on incitement and racism over two days.
The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination was examining the Palestinian Authority’s compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
The committee in the hearings Tuesday and Wednesday sought explanations of “anti-Semitic and anti-Israel prejudice and incitement to hatred” in the “media and speeches of state officials,” The Jerusalem Post reported. Officials asked what the Palestinians were doing to curb such rhetoric.
On Wednesday morning, Palestinian representatives accused the Israelis of weaponizing anti-Semitism and asserted that it was Zionism rather than Palestinian...

Hong Kong - Hong Kong’s government announced tax cuts and higher social spending Thursday to reverse a deepening economic slump aggravated by anti-government protests and the U.S.-Chinese tariff war.
The territory’s financial secretary, Paul Chan, cut this year’s official growth forecast to 0 to 1%, which could be the worst performance since 2009 during the global financial crisis. The previous forecast was 2% to 3%.
Hurt by the plunge in U.S.-Chinese trade, growth already was declining before anti-government protests erupted this year over a proposed extradition law and other grievances.
“The recent social incidents have hit the retail trade, restaurants and tourism, adding a further blow to an already-weak economy,” said a statement issued by ...

New Hampshire - President Donald Trump on Thursday sought to reassure his supporters about the state of the U.S. economy despite the stock market volatility and told rallygoers in New Hampshire, a state that he hopes to capture in 2020, that their financial security depends on his reelection.
“Whether you love me or hate me you have to vote for me,” Trump said.
Speaking to a boisterous crowd at Southern New Hampshire University, Trump dismissed the heightened fears about the U.S. economy and a 3% drop Wednesday in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which was fueled by a slowing global economy and a development in the bond market that has predicted previous recessions. Avoiding an economic slump is critical to Trump’s reelection hopes.
“The United States righ...

Mexico City - New U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Christopher Landau arrived in Mexico City on Friday to take up one of Washington’s most important diplomatic posts, which had been empty for over a year.
Landau replaces Roberta Jacobson, the first woman to be the United States’ envoy to Mexico. She resigned and retired in May 2018.
The North American neighbors are key commercial partners but Landau’s arrival comes after months of tensions over immigration and trade.
Mexico has cracked down on migrants and asylum seekers moving through its territory after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to slap tariffs on imports from Mexico. The two governments are hoping for ratification of a trade deal with Canada that replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement.
L...